Load-supporting stand

ABSTRACT

A load-supporting stand is disclosed including an extensible post which is apertured to receive a load-supporting rod and having a load-supporting saddle. The stand includes depending legs with the ends of the legs being affixed to a base having upstanding flanges which retain the ends of the legs from lateral movement.

United States Patent Inventors Wayne E. llunnlcult Big Bend;

Peter G. Rossbach, Waultesha, both of, Wis.

July 15, 1968 Aug. 17, 197] Applied Power Industries, Inc. Milwaukee, Wis.

Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee LOAD-SUPPORTING STAND 4 Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl Int. Cl B605 9/02 Field of Search 248/352,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/1949 Roller 248/47 2,561,693 7/1951 Frye 248/44 3,178.146 4/1965 Goodale. 248/352 1,719,510 7/1929 Hansenm. 248/346 2,356,941 8/1944 Meyer 248/352 2,439,854 4/1948 Lipski 248/352 FOREIGN PATENTS 183,554 10/1955 Austria 248/44 Primary Examiner Edward C. Allen Altomey- Petherbridge. O'Neill & Lendgren ABSTRACT: A load-supporting stand is disclosed including an extensible post which is apertured to receive a load-supporting rod and having a load-supporting saddle. The stand includes depending legs with the ends of the legs being affixed to a base having upstanding flanges which retain the ends of the legs from lateral movement.

LOAD-SUPPORTING STAND The use of load-supporting or safety stands, particularly for automotive vehicles is well known. For example. in practice an automotive vehicle to be repaired is raised above the floor level by suitable lifting equipment. Safety stands are than positioned under the vehicle and the extensible post of the stand is raised to a desired height and the vehicle is then lowered to rest on a support saddle of the extensible post. The lifting equipment is then normally removed for other use.

Known prior art stands include spaced support legs which have braces connecting the legs to one another intermediate the ends of the legs. It has been found that when such stands are used to support vehicles on which body or frame damage repair is being undertaken, the various forces applied to the vehicle may cause the stand to tip and/or develop an asymmetrical loading resulting in greater than rated force on one of the legs causing that leg to buckle or bend. Further, when such increased forces are placed on one of the legs, that leg will tend to undesirably dig into the floor of the repair shop.

The present invention eliminates the problems posed by such prior art stands. The inventive stand includes spaced legs which terminate in a base. The base comprises a support surface onto which the ends of the legs are affixed, and upstanding flanges which retain the ends of the legs in position and prevent the ends of the legs from buckling or bending.

Further, the fact that the legs are affixed to the base increases the load-bearing capability of each leg. Also, the bottom or floor-contacting surface of the base includes smooth spaced shoulders which eliminate any digging of the legs into the shop floor.

As mentioned above, the inventive stand includes an extensible post having a load-supporting saddle. The extensible post is further apertured to receive load-supporting rods or tubes. When used in this latter manner, the vehicle is first raised, next the ends of a tube is inserted into two spaced stands and the vehicle is then lowered onto the tube to be supported thereby.

The foregoing and other advantages and features of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of preferred embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. I is an isometric view of the inventive stand;

FIG. 1A is a partial sectional view taken along the lBIA-I A of FIG. I to show the configuration of the comers of the stand of FIG. I;

FIG. IB is a cross-sectional view taken along the line -18 of FIG. I to show the configurations of the sides of the base of the stand of FIG. I;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the stand of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view partially in section of the stand of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the stand taken along the lines 4-4 of FIG. 2 to show how the legs of the stand are affixed at a common apex; and,

FIG. 5 is an enlarged side view partially in section taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

Referring first to FIGS. I and 3, the stand I] comprises four legs 12, I3, I4 and IS with their lower (as oriented in FIG. 1) ends positioned in rectangular configuration in a base 25. In the embodiment shown, the legs I2, I3, 14 and [5 are made of angle iron with the apex of the angle iron protruding outwardly. The legs I2, l3 l4 and 15 are angled inwardly toward a common apex or center (see also FIG. 4) and affixed as by welding to form a support for a housing I7 for an elongated extensible post I9 and a hand lever 21. The extensible post 19 and the lever 2I (see also FIG. 5) function as a pawl and ratchet unit, as is well known in the art, with the pawl of lever 2! locking the post I9 in any of several elevated positions as suits the operator and as required for a particular vehicle. Lever 21 serves as a handle to release the pawl for downward adjustment and for carrying the stand.

Extensible post 19 includes an aperture 23, see also FIG. 5, suitable for receiving a load support tubing 24 therein. Post 19 further includes a load-supporting saddle 26 at its upper end.

As mentioned hereinabove, an advantageous feature of the inventive stand resides in the provision of the base 25. Base 25 is rectangular in outline and is formed of what is essentially four similar sides 32, 33, 34 and 35 joined as a rectangle to have an open center 38. A cross section taken of any one of the four sides 32, 33, 34 and 35 is shown in FIG. IB. As clearly seen from FIGS. 1 and IB, each side includes a flat center surface 36, an upstanding flange 37 on its outer edge, and upstanding ridge 39 on its inner edge.

FIG. IA is a view, partially in section, showing how the legs l2, l3, l4 and 15 are positioned in the base 25 with each of the legs l2, 13, I4 and 15 being affixed as by welding to the base 25. The outer flange 37 prevents the legs from moving laterally and thus prevents buckling or bending of the leg. Note also that even if the welding bond between one of the legs and the base 25 would fail, the upstanding flange 37 will tend to retain the leg in position within the base 25. Accordingly, the inventive stand 11 thus provides an important safety feature. Ridge 39 shown in FIG. 1B which is a section view taken along lines lB-IB of FIG. 1 adds structural rigidity to the sides 32, 33, 34 and 35.

Note that base 25 also functions to impart structural strength to the legs since the ends of legs l2, 13, I4 and 15 are braced to one another.

The corners of the base sides 32, 33, 34 and 35 include downwardly depending shoulders or projections 40 (see FIG. I) at each corner of the stand I], such that these shoulders 40 bear on the floor or surface on which the stand 11 is placed, with the intermediate portions of sides 32, 33, 34 and 35 being spaced from the floor. Accordingly, an unevenness in the floor surface will not prevent the stand II from resting solidly thereon.

As clearly seen in FIG. IA, shoulders 40 have beveled edges and have a smooth bottom surface. In the prior art stand, lateral loading often tends to tip the stand and provide excessive forces to one or more of the legs tending to buckle those legs and/or cause them to tend to dig into the floor. The smooth bottom surface of the shoulders 40 of the inventive stand eliminates gouging of the floor, and will tend to cause the stand II to rest firmly on the floor even when lateral loading is placed on the stand.

Thus, in operation, the vehicle to be supported on the stand II is raised by suitable lifting equipment and the stand 11 positioned to support the vehicle. The extensible post 19 is raised manually and then locked in position by lever 21. The vehicle is next lowered to rest on the saddle 26 of post 19. One or more stands can be used to support the vehicle. Alternatively, two or more cooperating stands can be positioned under the vehicle with their extensible posts extended as desired. The cross tubes 24 such as indicated in FIG. I can be inserted in the apertures 23 of the cooperating stands and the vehicle lowered onto the tube.

As mentioned above, the inventive stand 11 provides a safety feature in that the upstanding flanges 37 of sides 32, 33, 34 and 35 retain or trap the legs I2, 13, I4 and 15 from moving laterally; and prevent buckling or bending of the legs Also, the smooth bottom surface and the beveled edges of the shoulders 40 on which the base 25 rests enables the stand II to tend to bear or rest firmly and evenly on the floor even when the lateral loading is applied to the vehicle; further, the smooth bottom surface of the shoulders 40 prevent legs of the stand 11 from gouging or digging into the floor surface.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

I. A load-supporting stand comprising a plurality of upstanding support legs angularly extending to join unitarily at the upper ends thereof to create an apex for solely supporting a load in all directions.

a base connected to said legs and having a plurality of oined sides and an open center to create a plurality of corners for retaining in position a respective lower end of one of said plurality of support legs at one of said plurality of corners.

each of said sides including at said comers a smooth bottom shoulder for firmly retaining the respective lower ends of said support legs and further including an upstanding outer flange to retain said legs from lateral movement,

an upwardly extensible post supported at said apex of the legs and having a saddle.

said extensible member including an aperture for receiving load-supporting tubes, and

the intermediate portions of each of said plurality of sides are elevated with respect to said shoulder at said comers to insure firm support of said legs by said base when lying on uneven surfaces.

2. A load-supporting stand comprising a peripherally continuous base having a plurality of joined sides and an open center to create a plurality of comers for retaining in position a respective lower end of one of a plurality of support legs at one of said plurality of corners,

a plurality of upstanding support legs connected to said base, each of said legs extending angularly from the lower end thereof at one of said comers upwardly to join at the upper ends thereof at an apex,

said support legs including a cross-sectional configuration formed by two intersecting surfaces disposed relative to each other at an angle complementary to the angular relationship of the respective joined sides at said comers,

the apex providing a sleeve for slidably receiving a loadbearing element and for solely supporting and essentially uniformly distributing the load therefrom over the base,

a load-bearing element slidably disposed in said sleeve and being selectively adjustable with respect to said sleeve, the load-bearin g element being spaced above the plane of said base under load-bearing conditions, and

each of the sides of said base including at the corners thereof a smooth bottom shoulder for firmly retaining the respective lower ends of said support legs and further including upstanding outer flange elements adjacent said comers, said respective leg surfaces abutting contacting said flange elements to retain the legs against load-induced lateral movement.

3. The load-supporting stand of claim 2 wherein said plurali ty of legs includes four legs and said base includes four joined sides to create a rectangular configuration.

4. The load-supporting stand of claim 2 wherein the intermediate portions of each of said plurality of sides are elevated with respect to said shoulder at said corners to insure finn support of said legs by said base when lying on uneven surfaces.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3, 599,923 Dated August 17, 1971 Wayne E. Hunnicutt, et a1 Inventor(s) It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 1, line 56, "lBlA-l" should read lA-lA line #7, cancel "A"; line 50 "-B" should read lB-lB line 66, after "13" insert a comma. Column 2, line 39, "stand" should read stands Column l, line 17, "abutting" should read abuttingly Signed and sealed this 10th day of October 1972.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCI-EER,JR. ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents M PC4050 HOSS) uscoMM-Dc mam-P09 n U 5 GOVERNMENT PHN'INO OFFICE '9. 0366-3. l. 

1. A load-supporting stand comprising a plurality of upstanding support legs angularly extending to join unitarily at the upper ends thereof to create an apex for solely supporting a load in all directions, a base connected to said legs and having a plurality of joined sides and an open center to create a plurality of corners for retaining in position a respective lower end of one of said plurality of support legs at one of said plurality of corners, each of said sides including at said corners a smooth bottom shoulder for firmly retaining the respective lower ends of said support legs and further including an upstanding outer flange to retain said legs from lateral movement, an upwardly extensible post supported at said apex of the legs and having a saddle, said extensible member including an aperture for receiving loadsupporting tubes, and the intermediate portions of each of said plurality of sides are elevated with respect to said shoulder at said corners to insure firm support of said legs by said base when lying on uneven surfaces.
 2. A load-supporting stand comprising a peripherally continuous base having a plurality of joined sides and an open center to create a plurality of corners for retaining in position a respective lower end of one of a plurality of support legs at one of said plurality of corners, a plurality of upstanding support legs connected to said base, each of said legs extending angularly from the lower end thereof at one of said corners upwardly to join at the upper ends thereof at an apex, said support legs including a cross-sectional configuration formed by two intersecting surfaces disposed relative to each other at an angle complementary to the angular relationship of the respective joined sides at said corners, the apex providing a sleeve for slidably receiving a load-bearing element and for solely supporting and essentially uniformly distributing the load therefrom over the base, a load-bearing element slidably disposed in said sleeve and being selectively adjustable with respect to said sleeve, the load-bearing element being spaced above the plane of said base under load-bearing conditions, and each of the sides of said base including at the corners thereof a smooth bottom shoulder for firmly retaining the respective lower ends of said support legs and further including upstanding outer flange elements adjacent said corners, said respective leg surfaces abutting contacting said flange elements to retain the legs against load-induced lateral movement.
 3. The load-supporting stand of claim 2 wherein said plurality of legs includes four legs and said base includes four joined sides to create a rectangular configuration.
 4. The load-supporting stand of claim 2 wherein the intermediate portions of each of said plurality of sides are elevated with respect to said shoulder at said corners to insuRe firm support of said legs by said base when lying on uneven surfaces. 